Protesting Russian truckers focus anger at Putin's friends

STUPINO, Russia, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Like most Russians, the
truck drivers parked up at the "Doughnuts" roadside cafeteria
south of Moscow care little for opposition politics, but a new
government policy has made them rethink their attitudes to
Vladimir Putin.

As of last month, the state has started charging a fee for
every kilometre that trucks over 12 tonnes in weight drive over
Russian roads. Drivers angry at the extra charge have staged
protests and go-slows around the country.

Compounding their anger is the fact that the company awarded
the contract to collect the fees is co-owned by Igor Rotenberg,
son of Putin's judo partner and part of a generation of people
close to the Russian president who have acquired fabulous
wealth.

At the Doughnuts cafe, 90 km (55 miles) outside the capital,
truckers grumble about Putin. "We vote for him unanimously, and
he does this bad stuff to us?" said Vladimir, on a run from the
southern city of Volgograd.

The economy is in recession because of low prices of oil,
Russia's main export, and Western sanctions imposed over the
conflict in Ukraine. The authorities have had to tighten their
belt, prompting protests over issues such as car parking fees
and hospital closures.

Most of these are divorced from politics: demonstrators
focus on narrow issues, they may blame local officials, but
rarely do they target their anger on Putin or the system he has
built during 15 years in power.

Any political protests aimed against Putin's rule tend to be
small, restricted to the urban intelligentsia, and quickly peter
out.

The drivers at the truck stop, most of them dressed in
tattered track suits, do not belong to that group. Yet their
protests have taken on a political flavour, making them an
unusual phenomenon in Putin's Russia.

"Why this Rotenberg character? This person, who is he to
us?" asked another driver from Volgograd, who did not give his
name. "We don't want a revolution. We don't want things to be
like they were in Ukraine," he said. "(But) the state cannot
treat people this way."

PUTIN'S FRIENDS

In April 2013, the Russian government opened a tender to
find an operator for its new road-charging system. The idea, the
government said, was to follow European countries such as
Germany in making the heaviest road users contribute most to
their upkeep.

After announcing the closure of the bidding, then re-opening
it, the state roads agency announced in August last year it was
scrapping the tender altogether. The following month it said it
was in talks to award the contract, without an open competition,
to a company called RT-Invest Transport Systems, which had been
specially created for the contract.

According to its Internet site, the firm has two co-owners.

One is RT-Invest, a unit of Rostec, a state industrial
conglomerate whose chief executive is Sergei Chemezov, a close
associate of Putin who is subject to European Union and U.S.
sanctions imposed over Russia's intervention in Ukraine.

The other is Igor Rotenberg. He is the son of Arkady
Rotenberg, a friend of Putin from his days in Russia's second
city of St Petersburg who was also his regular sparring partner
in judo sessions.

Arkady Rotenberg has earned millions of dollars from
contracts awarded by state entities, and, with his brother
Boris, is subject to U.S. Treasury sanctions imposed over the
Ukraine conflict.

Arkady Rotenberg was among dignitaries who played an
exhibition ice hockey match with Putin on his birthday on Oct. 7
this year.

Asked if Arkady Rotenberg's relationship with Putin had
helped his son win the contract for the road tariff system,
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No, it didn't help."

He referred other questions about the deal to the transport
ministry and the roads agency.

A spokesman for the ministry said the international tender
to find an operator had to be called off because of the
"geopolitical situation". He said the selection of the operator
had taken place in the most open and transparent way possible,
with the media, truckers, and trade unions all involved.

The state roads agency said the operator does not get the
fees that road users pay, but simply passes them on to the state
budget for the upkeep of roads.

RT-Invest, the unit through which Rostec co-owns the
road-charging operator, said in a statement that Igor Rotenberg
was a partner because he had experience of major transport
projects, his company had technological know-how, and he had put
up a significant amount of capital.

The operator itself did not respond to Reuters questions.

TIDE OF PROTEST

Gauging the scale of the truckers' protest is difficult.
They are not organised into a single group, the sector is
dominated by small players who often own only one truck, and
their protests are unannounced and short-lived.

Drivers last month in the southern region of Dagestan formed
a column of dozens of trucks that obstructed traffic on a major
highway, according to local media. Demonstrations and go-slow
protests have been reported in the central regions of Perm and
Yekaterinburg, and in Rostov in the south.

Protest leaders have been talking about driving to Moscow
and jamming up the capital's ring-road, but that has failed to
materialise.

Drivers said the police were listening in to truckers' radio
communications and intercepting any vehicles they suspected were
heading to a protest.

The government has made some concessions. It has reduced the
rate of the tariff to 1.5 roubles ($0.0215) per km, from 3.5
roubles, and also slashed the fines for non-payment.

The affair is unlikely to turn public opinion against Putin.
According to Levada Center, an independent pollster, his
approval rating is 85 percent, near its highest level.

Most people see the new tariffs as a problem for truckers
only, that does not concern them.

However, the protests could be the beginning of a tide of
discontent, as the government cuts social spending and - blocked
by sanctions from borrowing on Western financial markets - tries
to raise more revenue from citizens.

"In conditions where budget spending is being reduced,
injustice, inequality, disparities between the rich and the
poor, the powerful and the weak ... will be exposed even more,"
Levada Center wrote in an analytical note.

"New groups are appearing which recognise their own
interests and demand that the authorities take them into
account."
($1 = 69.6350 roubles)
(Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Ludmila Danilova
in MOSCOW; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by David Stamp)